My Upcoming European Vacation
My sister Patrice and I are moving forward with our plans to attend our niece’s wedding this summer. In Sweden.
The reason I am reluctant or recalcitrant about this trip occurred to me this morning – I don’t know how to plan, never mind actually take, a vacation.
Prior to moving to Vallarta 34 years ago, the five years before THAT when I did take vacations, I only came here a couple of times a year, on my own because I had a husband in Canada to mind the cats, the business, and the winter weather while I relaxed in the sunshine.
Now I have the Vallarta Mirror that I can temporarily step away from (I think!) I have no employees, just reasonable monthly fees that I will pay, and not use the service. I am not planning to take my computer to Europe. If I am going away on vacation, I plan to do just that – vacay!
My biggest concern is the weather and Humphrey Bogart, aka Bogie, my kitty. I have a lovely babysitter for him, but he isn’t easy. Did I mention he’s an escape artist? Happily, the entrance to my house is a two-door deal, so he can’t ‘slip outside’ unnoticed and be gone.
My patio, and its security, is still unnerving me. Just this morning, Bogie was hanging onto the heavy-duty wire with three paws, using the other one to try and pull down the fencing while screaming at something on the roof I couldn’t see.
I have a couple of months to iron out these problemitas and learn to be smarter than my cat!
Back to our proposed trip. We fly from Calgary to London for a few days, then Sweden for the wedding, and a week in Stockholm with a ferry boat overnight to Copenhagen and back. Then we thought we would take a train back to London. It would take us through Germany, Belgium, and a bit of France, then Chunnel back to London and fly back to Calgary, then I come home. In 30 or 35 days. Resurrect the Vallarta Mirror and pick up where I left off.
Except that foreign travel changes everything; it has to. I remember returning to Canada over a half-century ago after spending a year wandering around Europe and the Middle East and getting ‘home’ again. Nothing had changed there, but everything had changed in me. This is not an adventure like that, but it still will make changes.
And we will see our little brother Mark; it has been 5 or 6 years since he came here to visit. And Mark’s gorgeous wife Eva, who he met in Phuket, Thailand, a lifetime ago; now THERE’S a love story! Their fabulous daughters and a wedding and grand nieces to meet. Good grief. I believe I can feel excitement brewing!
Our monthly Scrabble tournament is today; drop by Qulture around 12:30 to see all the heavy action (lol!). It’s Happy Hour all day. I’ll be back in the morning with the breathtaking news of who won.